Joys of Internships
by CutePiglet
Summary: [Based on real-life events] As a teacher-in-training, Yami Tanaka had no idea his first year of internship would become /this/ stressful. He continued to glare at the student who was smiling brightly at him after he had called him over once again. "You're going to be the death of me, Yugi Mutou." YxYY
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **I know what y'all are thinking.

"Joanne, why the hell are you writing a new story and not updating your other stories?"  
The answer is simple, my dear fellow Puzzly fluffy readers: Because I can.

My notes aren't making any sense and I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing with this fic, oh god. I'm not even sure if I should continue because adhsufjdsaklfasd'l;fa

* * *

This was not Yami Tanaka's first time in this school because he already had to meet up with his mentor, Mai Kujaku, who was going to guide him and teach him everything he needed to know about becoming a teacher. She had given him a few tips one week ago, which were still quite fresh:

"You have to find a balance. You're young, so the students here are going to have the tendency to treat you like one of their friends, but you have to keep in mind that _you're _their teacher now and not their best friend. As soon as they start seeing you as one of them, they won't respect you anymore and you can kiss your career goodbye."

Mai had been a teacher for nearly ten years and probably knew what she was talking about since she had gone to the exact same school as him. Her expectations were clear but she had promised to go easy on him; he was only a first-year after all and still had a good few years to go.

The bag on his shoulder was filled with every book he needed, his lunch, his student ID, his phone and laptop so it was _pretty damn heavy. _He felt like an idiot for carrying all that stuff around, but he didn't have a choice. Getting a teacher-locker was only for third-years, and maybe second-years if they were lucky. This would have to do.

Adolescents were running around, laughing and sitting on the tables as Yami walked into the main hall. Some of them looked up at him, giving him a weird look. He couldn't exactly blame them because he _did _look mature but then there was his height and the heavy bag he was carrying.

"M-morning, sir," one of the girls said with a hint of nervousness in her voice, probably not entirely sure if he was one of them or not.

"Good morning," Yami replied briefly with a charming smile before he turned around the corner so he could climb the stairs. Several other teachers walked past him, looked him up and down, smiled and continued. It was getting more awkward with each passing minute, but he remained on his feet and refused to appear nervous or unprepared.

He kept walking, trying to ignore the curious stares he constantly received from passing students, including the whispering and pointing fingers.

As soon as he reached the teacher's lounge, he dropped his bag and dragged it towards the table, letting himself crash in one of the chairs. It was way too early to function properly, even though it was somewhere around eight in the morning, but since he had been up for _fucking three hours _already, he was about to fall asleep on the spot.

Ever since he had been looking for a placement school, practically everyone had turned him down, or told him they were packed with other students. This one, Domino High, was the only school left on the list and had accepted him right away. The only problem was the fact that it was a good two hours away from his apartment and he would have to get up at five once a week for the rest of the year.

Oh, well. As long as he would pass this course, then everything would be fine. Just peachy.

Someone barged in and walked over to the coffee machine, mumbling a "Good morning" under their breath before sighing to himself. The man was obviously tall, had short brown hair and wearing a neat suit.

Yami blinked and looked down at his simple clothing. Maybe he should have dressed for the occasion; this was his first day after all and he knew that leaving a good first impression was so very important, especially for occasions like these.

"I've never seen you around," the teacher spoke curtly, turning back to him, this time with a cup of steaming coffee in it. "You new?"

"E-er, intern," Yami answered awkwardly, standing up and bowing politely. "Yami Tanaka, first year student at the University of Tokyo."

"Todai?" The man repeated incredulously and Yami nodded. "Do you live around here?"

"No, I live in Tokyo."

"Wow. You've got balls, kid. I mean, the distance between Domino and Tokyo is about one-hundred kilometers."

"What can I say? I'm very dedicated," Yami said smoothly, his lips curling into a smug grin. "I've been up since five and ready to face the day."

Right at that moment, Mai opened the door and strode into the room. Her long, elegant blonde hair was pulled into a high ponytail that still reached her lower back and she was wearing a simple purple dress, which complimented her eyes. She didn't look thirty-two at all, and Yami couldn't help but think she probably had to deal with flirtatious remarks of hormonal teenagers all day long.

"Oh, Yami, you're already here. Good, 'cause I wanted to talk to you about how you are going to introduce yourself to my students," she told him. Her eyes drifted over to her colleagues. "And I see you've already met Kaiba."

The man took a sip of his coffee and nodded and walked out of the room again, telling them he had some more work to do.

"He's not a morning person," Mai joked, gently pushing Yami back on the chair and sitting down next to him. "All right, so I have seven different classes today. All of my students are between fourteen and seventeen and they're all a bunch of cuties, but they can be a pain in the ass as well. Keep in mind that they're going to test your patience because you're a newbie and that they're going to try to annoy you. All you have to do is rise above and show them who's boss. Got it?"

Yami's eyes had widened quite a bit, but he nodded anyway.

"Great. Now, about your introduction… It doesn't have to be in English, maybe a couple of words here and there, but if you overdo it, they won't understand a thing. However, for our third-years it's perfectly normal to talk English since I tend to do the entire hour in English, anyway. Tell them a little about yourself; where you're from, your age, why you're here and that they're free to ask any questions. They might take advantage of the last one, but I guarantee you, they will open up to you if you open up to them first. Of course you don't have to answer the really personal questions, don't overdo it, but it's good to share."

"… Okay," he said quietly, trying to store every bit of information somewhere in his brain.

"If you don't know the answer to a question, or need help with something else, simply call on me and I will help out. It's better to be honest than to give them the wrong information. You're not gonna have to teach right away, but I do expect you to be able to take over some of my classes at the end of the year. That _is _your goal, right?"

"Right."

"For today I've prepared some new grammar rules, some fun exercises and new assignments they're going to have to prepare for next week. All you have to do is observe, walk around and help the students who raise their hands. It's all about baby-steps. Think you can handle that?"

Yami gave another confirming nod and smiled. "Absolutely."

"Then we're good to go."

* * *

Students were pointing at him, whispering things behind their cupped hands and frantically looking around for their own teacher. Yami felt his nose reddening as more adolescents asked their friends why "that dude" was standing in front of the board, since he was obviously not one of them.

He had no idea if he was supposed to introduce himself because Mai had left to get her books and had left him all on his own. She shouldn't have left him in this spot, seeing that he was practically freaking out her students. Some of them looked actually _scared_, others were silently telling him to leave and the rest was beyond curious to find out who he was.

The murmurs got louder and louder and Yami folded his arms over his chest, raising an accusing eyebrow. Surprisingly, the students cowered and quickly went back to whispering to each other. He blinked, he didn't think it would actually work.

Somebody peeked inside the classroom and Yami turned to the smaller student standing there, holding his hand on the door hesitantly as if he wasn't sure whether he had to enter or not. Their eyes met for a quick, awkward moment and Yami pressed his lips together, trying not to stare because the guy was pretty good-looking.

"Is this um… Miss Kujaku's class?"

"Y-yeah, she's just getting her books. Come on in," Yami beckoned him to come in and the smaller one tentatively took a few more steps, looking at the other students, who shrugged.

Mai walked back in with her books, closing the door behind her with a loud _thump. _It went quiet right away and she dropped the books on her desk, placing her feminine hands on either side of the pile and looking at her pupils with a wide smile.

"Good morning, everyone," she said in English, looking over at Yami, giving him a quick smile. "As you can see, we've got a very special guest here today. He's going to introduce himself to you and I want you all to listen very carefully."

This was a third-year class so he was allowed to do his introduction in English, which made him slightly nervous. He took a deep breath, put on an inviting smile and started speaking.

"My name is Yami Tanaka, I'm a first-year student at the University of Tokyo. I'm studying to become an English teacher like Miss Kujaku over here and will be here every Wednesdsay for the rest of the year. I will try to help you as much as I can and you can always ask me questions if you need any help."

Most of the students' jaws dropped. Someone mumbled, "Jeez, _posh _accent."

The boy who had been the last one to enter the class raised his hand. "How old are you?"

Oops, he had forgotten to mention that. "I'm eighteen."

"You're so young!" a girl exclaimed, her face completely flushed.

"Well, I just got out of high school," Yami chuckled lamely, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Does this mean you're going to be teaching us?" another girl asked.

"At some point, yeah."

A lot of girls started giggling and Yami mentally rolled his eyes, telling himself it was all because of the hormones. Most guys just stared at him as if he was some weird alien who had somehow managed to sneak into the classroom, other than the boy who was smiling at him reassuringly. The smile lit up his entire face, bringing out his rather handsome features and causing a sparkle to appear in his big, purple eyes.

'Snap out of it,' he thought. 'He's fucking _underage._'

"If there are no further questions, we're going to get started. Today, we'll focus on speaking and fluency, but do keep in mind that you need to be comprehensible. Open your books to page twenty-seven and twenty-eight. Yes, you too, Jounouchi."

Yami walked to the last row so he could sit at one of the empty tables with his notebook and books. While Mai started explaining some new grammar rules, he started doing some paperwork, but also tried to pay attention to the explanation. Every single student was taking notes, nodding to what their teacher was telling them and asking the occasional question.

"Now, in your textbook you will find chunks of a conversation between a customer and a cashier. I want you to form groups of two, and with the help of those chunks, hold a conversation: one of you being the customer and the other the cashier. See it as some sort of "speed-dating" game because every two minutes, I want the person on the right to move over to another table. Doesn't that sound fun?"

Mai was obviously being sarcastic and the students groaned in response but got up nonetheless. They started moving the tables around so they could sit across from each other and several guys tried to pair up with some girls, who playfully told them to go away.

Yami got up, helping here and there and smiling when the students shyly thanked him.

"Seems like we're short on one person. If you're lucky, you're gonna get Yami as your partner. I'll get the timer ready." She pointed at a tall, blond student who was sitting with an empty table in front of him. Yami took a seat behind the table with a small smile, and got one in return.

"Looks like you're stuck with me," Yami joked lightly, his smile widening when the guy in front of him leaned back with a smug grin.

"I guess so. The name's Jounouchi, by the way. Can't believe you're only one year older than me, dude. That's weird," he said.

"Okay, everyone, we're gonna start. Ready? Go!"

Other than the few pronunciation and grammar mistakes, Jounouchi was doing a pretty good job so far. At a certain point, they weren't even reading the sentences from the book and were casually talking about something else. Jounouchi was rather amusing to talk to, especially because he kept messing up, but pretended it was all part of his act.

"And um… I want this big, uh, tattoo on my," he started, holding out his arm and pointing at it. "arm…? What about you?"

Yami tried his best to keep himself from snickering at the silliness. "One of my best friends has got one, but I'm personally not interested."

Mai clapped in her hands. "All right. Time to switch!"

Yami left with a quick wink and found himself in front of that good-looking guy again. "… Hi."

"Hello," the boy said with a dashing smile. "I'm sorry, I forgot your name. You were talking so fast that I could barely keep up. My English isn't that good."

"It's Yami." He didn't everyone to call him by his last name because that would be too informal and would probably make him feel old. The age gap between him and the other students wasn't that big to begin with, even though he was now officially their teacher.

"I'm Yugi."

"You wanna be the customer, or the cashier?" Yami quickly asked, flipping to the right page of the book he had brought with him. He felt his stomach doing a couple of familiar flips, which meant trouble. Now was really _not _the time to feel attracted to someone.

"Uh, I'll be the cashier. Oh, shit, that means I have to start."

"Come on, you can do it," Yami encouraged him when Yugi started to look flustered. Turned out he wasn't lying when he said he wasn't that good at English.

"… H-hello, may, no wait, _can_ I help you?"

Yami's eyes softened. "Yes, I'd like to return these pants."

Yugi bit his lip and looked at his book, pressing his finger against the paper, as if he was trying to find out what to say next. His cool attitude was completely gone and had been replaced by a very awkward, nervous one. "Why, m-may I _askuh_?"

"_Ask,_" Yami corrected gently, putting emphasis on the K.

A hint of red appeared on Yugi's cheekbones and he laughed nervously. "Okay. As…k?"

"You see, they're too big for me and I was wondering if you have these in a smaller size?" Yami continued, trying to talk slowly because he could clearly see Yugi struggling. The poor guy's finger was trembling slightly and the red on his face started increasing. But then, a hint of mischief appeared in his eyes and he blinked.

"… No."

Yami snorted and saw Yugi smirking, glad he had found an easy way out. "No?"

"No, I am sorry."

"Yugi," Yami switched back to Japanese, leaning forward and giving him a look. "It says here that you're supposed to let me return them and give me another pair so I can leave and move on with my boring life."

Now it was Yugi's turn to snort. "Doesn't matter. You're not getting a new pair of pants 'cause I'm not giving them to you. Go to another shop so you can impress someone else with your English skills and handsome face."

Raising an eyebrow, Yami silently wondered if Yugi was truly _flirting _with him. "Excuse me?"

"Time's up!"

Oh boy. Yami's jaw dropped and he looked back at Mai who started tapping students on their shoulders to let them know they had to move. He looked back at Yugi who was smiling innocently, clearly proud of himself, but he was not going to give up that easily.

"Mai, we weren't quite done here. Do you mind if…?"

The teacher looked over at him and blinked. "Oh, no please continue. It's important that everyone finishes this exercise. Mazaki will just have to move to the table next to you."

Turning back at Yugi with a satisfied grin, he folded is arms over his chest. Yugi's smile had disappeared and he was now pursing his lips, obviously not amused. "Two can play at this game."

"Fine."

Internship was going to be _fun._

* * *

**Author's note: **Oh, the joys of teaching English.

Before you ask, "Todai" is some sort of nickname for the Uni of Tokyo. I'm totally cool for using that, yo. *shot dead*

Okay, okay, let me explain. I'm a second-year college student, teaching English at my current placement school. Some of you have been asking me if I was majoring in English, and well, hope this answers your question. xD

Anywway, I got sort of inspired to write this fic when I was on my way to my classroom and saw this _really_ _hot _guy walking past me. I instantly thought,  
"NO. NO, BAD. HE'S UNDERAGE."

And I've _always_ wanted to write a studentxteacher Puzzle fic, but then I thought that they were totally overrated and cliché, so WHY NOT WRITE A COLLEGE STUDENTXHIGH SCHOOL STUDENT FIC INSTEAD?~

_Most _of these things have actually happened, including Yugi (of course it wasn't Yugi but you know) hesitating before entering the classroom and me having to reassure the poor guy I wasn't some sort of monster, the way the students acted around Yami, the "speed-dating" exercise and some of the questions/comments Yami received. Just casually turning my own experiences into some mushy romantic, lovey-dovey story. Should be fun.

By the way, it's really weird when you're nineteen and there are these fifteen-year-olds calling you "Miss." It makes me feel SO old. xD

This is the longest author's note ever, MEH. Gonna shut up now and kindly ask you to review~!

See you next chapter, lovelies. x3


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: **I'm on a rollll~. Trying to update all my stories in one week because I've got time, whoo! Sorry about the long wait. My life has been um, quite hectic lately. Sister got sick, very sick, as in, ended-up-in-hospital-sick. When she was in the middle of recovery, she got sick again, and now my other sister's sick, too. Like… How.

I'M THE ONLY SURVIVOR. No, it just means I've been running around like crazy, taking care of both of them. xD Seriously though, January was so stressful. Guuuhuuuuuuhhuuu. I'll shut up now.

Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad this story's got so much positive feedback!

* * *

After exactly one hour and fifteen minutes, the train reached his destination and Yami carefully pushed himself out of his chair, taking his coat with him. The plastic cup on the table in front of him was still semi-warm and he quickly grabbed it, along with his bag and made his way over to the nearest exit.

"_Next stop, Domino Station. Please don't forget to check out and to take your personal belongings with you. Thank you." _

Yami snorted. "As if I could forget this heavy motherf—"

"Yami, is that you?"

Said person turned to his right and felt his stomach drop. It was Yugi and Yami's eyebrow twitched when the smile on Yugi's face turned into a lascivious smirk. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out there was a spark between them and _god _did it make him feel awkward. Yugi's constant flirting yet playful teasing was more than enough to have him play along for a while, but he knew there was a line.

"'Morning," he greeted back with a polite smile.

The train slowly came to a stop and the doors in front of them opened. Yami held out his free hand and Yugi chuckled in response, hopping off the last step and turning around to face him again. Yami was very thankful he did so because Yugi had a very nice ass and— He really needed to snap out of it.

"Do you get paid to act nice to me or are you really this polite?"

"Sadly, first years never get paid," Yami replied dryly as they made their way over to the stairs, along with a few other passengers. He fished out his card, held it above the small light, which turned green and made the two iron bars part. Yugi followed him and went to walk next to him, loosely holding his brown bag.

"So we were on the same train, huh?" Yugi started again. "Where do you live?"

"Tokyo," Yami said with a wry smile, already knowing what was coming. And just like he predicted, Yugi's eyes widened comically, which was quite amusing.

"What the _hell _are you doing here then, you moron?"

"Dedication, Yugi. Dedication."

The early October air was musky. Yami buried his nose further into the thick scarf that was wrapped around his face and saw Yugi pull up his collar from the corner of his eyes.

"Nobody in their right mind would_ voluntarily_ do this," Yugi shot back, his voice slightly muffled now. The groggy comment made Yami chuckle and he looked down at him with a sheepish grin.

"I don't mind." Okay, he was lying through his teeth. He did mind. _A lot._ Yugi's eyes met his, and it was as if they could look right through him. They walked under a streetlight and it was then that Yami noticed that Yugi also had a hint of lilac in his eyes, which was gorgeous and _very _distracting.

"Oh, you do. What time did you have to drag yourself out of bed?"

Yami took a small sip of his coffee and stared at the road ahead of them. "Five."

"You're crazy."

"Maybe. What about you?" Small-talk couldn't hurt. They still had at least another ten to fifteen minutes of walking ahead of them and this was probably better than some awkward silence. He tried to keep Mai's words in mind; friendship was not okay between teachers and students because students wouldn't treat them with the required respect.

"Seven. I only live one stop away so it's not that bad, I guess," Yugi said with a small shrug. "So, why are you _really _here?"

Taking another sip, Yami shook his head. "Fine. Don't tell anyone, but this was the only school that accepted me."

"Internship sucks like that," Yugi joked and playfully nudged him with his shoulder, making Yami laugh.

"It's not the end of the world. I force myself to go to bed around ten so I can get a decent amount of sleep, I buy some coffee on my way to the train station to keep me awake during the train ride and when I get here, I'm fully awake," he explained, quite content he had found a routine that worked for him. The first time he had done this didn't work out so well, seeing that he could barely stay awake during class.

"All because you wanna become a teacher?"

"Yep."

"Like I said, you're crazy. At least you're good-looking, though."

Oh, boy. He didn't want to go down that road again. "What about you? Do you have any idea what you want to do after you graduate?"

Luckily, Yugi went along with it. "I honestly have no idea. I'm not one of the smartest around, and my grades are average."

"If it makes you feel any better, my grades were not that good, either. I had to study my ass off to pass all of my tests," Yami confessed with a sheepish grin. Back in high school, he wasn't exactly proud of his grades since the only thing he was good at was English, and all his other classes were just there, annoying him because they were too hard. At least now he knew he wasn't the only one.

"But when it came to English you hardly broke a sweat?"

"I never really studied for English because I was too arrogant. Never paid attention in class since I already knew everything and had a love-hate relationship with my teacher. Sometimes she'd get mad at me for not taking notes during her lectures and after that she would praise me for acing my test."

Yami threw his head back to catch the last few drops of coffee on his tongue and threw it in the nearest trashcan.

"You know, for someone who wants to become an English teacher, you're not being a very good role-model," Yugi remarked, laughing when Yami shot him a playful glare.

"Not my fault I'm so ridiculously talented," he said, his dry lips curled into a small grin.

"Any other talents I should know about? Like, are you a good kisser?"

Yami stopped dead in his tracks. He cleared his throat, turned to him with a forced smile and said, "All right, see you in class."

He quickened his pace so he didn't have to spend another second next to the younger one and walked through the front doors. Some of the same students looked up at him again and teachers brushed past him with an inviting smile. This time, he didn't hesitate to wave at them and greet them.

"It's all about gaining experience," he told himself as he went upstairs.

The teacher's lounge was quite empty, except for a few teachers sitting at separate tables, working on their laptops or working on their lesson plans. Yami dropped his bag near the chair he had already claimed as his own and walked over the small kitchen area, getting himself a glass of water.

Just when he turned around with his cup, Mai pushed the door open with her shoulder since she was holding a huge pile of answer sheets and envelopes. Yami quickly jogged over to her to hold the door open.

"'Morning," she said with a meek grin. She brushed past him and dropped the pile onto the table. "I apologize in advance, 'cause today's gonna be really boring for you."

Yami took a seat and watched as she mirrored him and started sorting out the envelopes. Different class names were written on them with huge red letters and he could already guess what was going to happen.

"Lemme guess. Today's exam day?"

"Yep," Mai chuckled. "I always do this. A day full of exams to get some rest _and_," she raised her finger defiantly. "this way, I can grade them all in one go and my students appreciate fast grading. It's a win-win."

She shoved one of the piles over to Yami with an encouraging smile and he gave her a look. "So, what do I have to do?"

"You're going to invigilate of course! Don't worry, I chose the easy classes for you. You know, the quiet ones."

Yami's eyes widened and tapped his fingers on the small pile of envelopes. He had never invigilated before, and had no idea whether he was capable of doing it. It didn't look that hard; it was basically standing in front of class and watching students take their test for at least an hour before moving on to the next test. Now that he thought about it, it sounded pretty dull and boring.

"What if someone tries to cheat?"

Mai was re-applying some red lipstick, and blinked at him, the small black tube still against her lips. "They get a 0. I won't tolerate cheating in my class."

"So if I see someone cheating I snatch their answer sheet right away?"

She put down her make-up and clicked her tongue. "Well, I don't steal their test just like that. Sometimes students cheat because they're desperate. If I catch them, I'll clear my throat, or go sit by their table to let them know I'm not stupid. However, if they try again _after _that, it's game over."

Yami looked back at the small pile in front of him. He had to admit it felt a bit weird to have that kind of power. Let someone fail in the blink of an eye. Then again, most students cheated because they were too lazy to study themselves, or… like Mai said, because they're desperate.

"I found it scary at first, too," Mai said as if she was reading his mind. She had walked over to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. "I remember the first time invigilating and seeing a student obviously trying to read someone else's answers. I was standing there, completely frozen, not knowing how to react. It's all about confidence, I think. You know that what they're doing is absolutely wrong and you're the one who has to punish them. And let me tell you, it's the worst part about teaching."

She sat back down, stirring her coffee with a plastic spoon. With a small sigh, she continued, "One time a girl started crying after I had confronted her. After everyone had handed in their work, I talked to her and she told me that she wanted to get a good grade so badly that she had resorted to cheating."

His day had just begun and it already felt like he had been sitting on a rollercoaster the entire time. It started out with Yugi's never-ending flirtatious comments and now _this. _He had no idea there was also another side to teaching; the part where you have to be harsh and strict, yet knowing you're doing the right thing.

But Mai gave him a slap on the back. "Oh, cheer up! Sometimes you have to make them fall so they can learn from it. That student found a tutor and she passed her finals with an 85. It's not the end of the world if they get caught. Come on, we have to set everything up."

* * *

The minute Yugi entered the classroom and gave him a smile, Yami felt the need to jump out the window. Mai was already walking around, placing answer sheets on every table while Yami stood in front of the board, watching as students came in, their faces hidden behind their books to get some last-minute studying done.

Jounouchi took a seat in the second row and was sitting backwards, talking to his classmate. "I'm _so _gonna pass this one, man. I have this feeling, you know?"

"A feeling?" the other guy repeated dryly.

"Totally. I swear, if I don't get a 60, it's not my fault."

"That's interesting. 'Cause from my experience, it's either the teacher's fault, or the student's." Mai stopped and turned around to look at him with a smirk. "So whose would it be in your case?"

A nervous smile appeared on Jounouchi's face and he raised his hands in defense. "Not yours, Miss, that's for sure."

Several students laughed, including Yami who was trying to hide it behind his hand. The last student entered the classroom and closed the door behind him. Mai thanked him and walked up to Yami, handing him the exam sheets.

"Good luck," she whispered, gave him a small wink and leaned against the desk with her hip.

This was the first time it was Yami's turn to invigilate and he could feel his heart pounding against his chest. Mai had told him he was allowed to use Japanese since this was not an actual class and he was very thankful for that. He looked around, noting the eager looks on every student's face, as if they were wishing him luck.

"Today's exam is about irregular verbs, the present continuous and sentence structure. Don't bother asking questions, 'cause," he smiled awkwardly and raised his hands, earning a few chuckles and giggles. "I'm not gonna answer them. Make sure you answer every question and that your handwriting is legible."

He averted his gaze to Mai who nodded encouragingly. Taking a few steps forward, he started handing out the test. Students watched him quietly and he felt incredibly uncomfortable, feeling all those curious eyes on him. Mai had told him to do this part rather quickly for obvious reasons so he was half-jogging, half-walking and had to be careful not to trip over his own feet.

As soon as Yami was back to the front, he looked over his shoulder at the clock. "All right. You have forty-five minutes. Good luck."

The sound of scribbling echoed through the classroom, as the exam had officially begun. Mai gave him a small thumbs-up and he smiled in response, glad it went well. She took a seat behind her desk and started grading the exams from her previous classes and Yami sighed through his nose, letting his eyes roam over the students.

Most of them were busy penning and others were reading the questions carefully, their hands hovering over their sheets. Yami started taking slow steps to the left so he could lean against the door with his shoulder while he continued to watch them. His eyes fell on Yugi who was seated in the last row. He moistened his lips, watching him for a few minutes until he noticed he was staring and not paying attention to the others.

Fortunately, everyone was focusing on their own work, making Yami feel at ease. He went for a small walk, taking slow steps so he didn't make too much noise and walked towards the back. Then, from the corner of his eyes he saw something that made him panic.

Yugi's eyes were on someone else's answer sheet. At first he thought he was seeing things but Yugi was obviously leaning towards the other person's table so he could read their answers.

Shit. Yami glanced over at Mai who was too busy to even notice anything. Not good.

He strode over to front of the classroom, keeping his eyes on Yugi the entire time. The student was writing things down, but those were probably not his own answers. Yami gripped the fabric of his pants, feeling beyond nervous. Back when he was in high school, one of his teachers would start yelling whenever he thought someone was cheating and other teachers would immediately steal their sheets, but Yami didn't know what to do. Mai's method didn't sound very appealing either. He was pretty sure that if he were to clear his throat, Yugi wouldn't notice, or worse, he'd ignore it.

Yami grinded his teeth when Yugi fucking did it again. His violet eyes first looked up at the ceiling before they slowly drifted off to his neighbor's answer sheet. Very slowly, he started to advance towards Yugi's desk, feeling his heartbeat fastening. His steps were so quiet that Yugi didn't even notice it.

He took a deep breath and sat down on the unoccupied desk in front of Yugi's own. Then, folded his arms over his chest and whispered,

"Mind keeping your eyes on your own paper?"

Everyone stopped writing and looked up. Yugi froze and slowly looked at him, his eyes wide in shock. Yami's face didn't hold any emotion, he merely looked at him and Yugi swallowed before he nodded and lowered his head in shame.

Releasing the breath he was holding, Yami got up and went back to Mai's desk. She was looking at him with an apologizing smile and shrugged. He turned around and watched the students in silence, but he felt the atmosphere had changed.

Luckily, the remaining thirty minutes went by in a flash and soon, there were only three students left, including Yugi.

"Two minutes left," Yami called out and smiled when one of those students' eyes widened and they started writing faster. One of the other students got up, handed in their answer sheet with a shy smile and left.

One minute left. Mai was softly tapping her nails against the desk, watching her students like a hawk. It was hardly necessary, since there was at least ten feet between the two and there was no way they could see each other's answers.

The previously frightened student got up and placed everything on Mai's desk before he left.

"Yugi, time's up." Yami walked over to Yugi's desk and held out his hand with an awkward smile.

"Don't even bother grading it." Yugi rolled his eyes and placed the paper in his hands, Yami feeling a small spark in his stomach as their hands touched for a small moment.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Mai said as she joined in. "What's bad is that you cheated."

"I wasn't—"

"Of course not. You were just checking if Mazaki had spelled her name correctly, right?"

Yugi didn't seem to be impressed by his teacher's attitude. Mai started lecturing him and Yami pressed his lips together, feeling awful.

Internship was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

* * *

**Author's note: **I'm telling you, the guy looked at me like his world had collapsed when I confronted him. And I'm pretty sure that several people gasped. THEY REALLY DID, IT WAS AS IF I WAS IN A MOVIE OR SOMETHING. I guess it's because I'm always super nice and they're not used to me confronting them. Ehe. *cheeky grin*

Just picture it. An eighteen-year-old telling a seventeen-year-old off. It's weird. IT GOES AGAINST THE VERY LAWS OF NATURE.

Okay, okay, I'm done.  
Please review~!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: **Here's a helpful life tip: Don't watch 50 Shades of Grey. You'll regret it. Trust me. *bows head in shame*

I'm trying to update once a week again! Trying, trying, trying...  
Thanks so much for all the reviews!

* * *

After Yami got off the train he looked around since he hadn't seen Yugi yet. Last week's scene had been playing itself over and over again in his head and he felt beyond guilty for embarrassing Yugi in front of the whole class like that. Mai, on the other hand, had praised him and said she would give him extra credit, seeing that most interns would have been too scared to do anything. The speech she had given to Yugi hadn't left an impression on the student because he had brushed her off like it was nothing and walked out of the classroom.

Even though he hated himself for it, Yami couldn't help but hope that Yugi wasn't mad at him. It was wrong on so many levels, yet he kept glancing over to every corner of the station, hoping to get a glimpse of Yugi.

And there he was. Yami started jogging when he saw Yugi almost at the top of the stairs, his schoolbag carelessly draped over one shoulder and the hem of his school uniform peeking out from his blue jacket. Apparently he hadn't found it very important to tuck it into his jeans. While he was climbing the stairs, Yami started thinking about what he was going to say. Maybe he should apologize— No, he had done the right thing. But then what…?

Right then, he almost bumped into Yugi because he had turned around to retrieve something he had dropped. Yami dug his heel in the ground and cursed himself for standing there like an idiot. Yugi slowly looked up at him and, much to Yami's relief, that familiar sparkle appeared in the other's eyes.

"Hey, you," Yugi mumbled, his fingers curling around his card and lifting it up. He straightened up and for the first time, Yami noticed that he was only a couple of inches taller than him. "Didn't see you on the train. Were you hiding from me?"

"'Course I was," was the sarcastic reply. Rolling his eyes and shaking his head with a small smile, Yugi turned around and walked towards the gates. Both of them checked out and just like last week, walked side by side to the exit. Before Yami could even formulate the words in his mind, he blurted out, "Sorry about last week."

He clenched his jaw and mentally cursed once again. He did _not_ have to apologize because he had merely done his job. As an intern. As a college student whose last days in high school had only been a couple of months ago. And now he was looking for reasons to defend himself against himself.

He had expected some playful remark, but Yugi gave him a confused look instead. "Huh?"

"You know…" Yami rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at the darkened sky to avoid eye contact. "Confronting you like that."

"_Oh. _You still worried about that? I gotta admit that I'm surprised," Yugi said smoothly and Yami felt his eyebrow twitch once again, ready to snap if Yugi was going to turn this conversation around _again. _"I didn't think you'd feel guilty about that. I mean, as a teacher it is your job to tell students off, right? You were doing the right thing."

Or he could gape at Yugi instead because he had not seen that coming. "You're not mad?"

Yugi stopped walking and held his arm so he was forced to stop as well. Then, he turned to Yami with an incredulous grin and a defiant sparkle in his eyes that Yami really didn't like. His sleep-deprived mind was not ready for whatever was going to be thrown at him. "Wait, lemme get this straight. You were _worried _that I was gonna be mad at _you?" _

_Shit. _"No."

A breathy laugh made its way past Yugi's lips, a small cloud appearing in front of his flushed face and he tightened his grip on Yami's arm. "Yes, you were."

"_No._"

"You're not a very good liar," Yugi snickered, looking more excited than ever and Yami felt like looking away because it was actually quite adorable. "You still have a lot to learn if you wanna be a teacher." Fortunately, he turned serious again. "Look, you shouldn't care about the fact that a student may be mad at you, okay? But I feel very flattered that you were scared that I wouldn't like you anymore."

The arm Yugi was holding felt awfully hot. Either Yugi's hand was very warm or he was lost. Lost in his stupid pool of hormones.

"It's not about that," Yami said and he felt the tip of his nose going red. Hopefully it was already red because of the chilly wind. His chest tightened when Yugi took a daring step closer so their bodies were almost touching.

"Then what?"

"I humiliated you in front of your friends."

"Nah, I'm pretty sure they already forgot about it. Jounouchi-kun's tried to cheat so many times that we lost count. I keep telling him that it's his own fault for staring at all the girls all the time instead of studying."

The irony was unbelievable but Yami decided it was best to keep his mouth shut. "Well, okay. Let's keep walking."

Very slowly, Yugi let go of his arm, and he almost shivered at the loss of warmth. Apparently Yugi had very warm hands.

They walked in silence for a while, Yugi playing with the strings of his bag and Yami looking at the pavement. "So, why did you try to cheat, anyway? You didn't tell Mai when she asked you."

He looked over at Yugi and saw a distant look appearing in his violet eyes. Biting his tongue, he looked down at his moving feet again, feeling stupid again. They had sort of made up (even though Yugi hadn't been mad at him at all) and now he had probably screwed up again. But Yugi kept surprising him today.

"I told you on day one," Yugi started and Yami looked back at him and for the first time, there was a real smile on Yugi's face. It wasn't playful, flirtatious or teasing and honestly, Yami found it very attractive. For some reason it suited him way better than those other smiles, or maybe that was Yami's mind losing it over something as simple as a _fucking _smile. "I suck at English. Anzu's really good at it so I took advantage of that. I knew that it was wrong, but, you know, I felt like I didn't have a choice."

Just like Mai had told him. At first, Yami thought it was an act and maybe it still was, but he still felt sorry for Yugi. And he did remember Anzu Mazaki being really good; on the first day when Yami had to talk to them in English, she was the only one who didn't have a very thick accent and knew what she was talking about. That, and she looked very nice, so there was no doubt about it she had agreed to help Yugi out. Still, it was wrong and he didn't want Yugi to pass his tests like this.

"Why didn't you accept Mai's offer?"

"I don't want her as a private tutor."

"Why not? She's your _teacher. _She gets paid for answering your questions."

"We don't seem to click," Yugi argued stubbornly. "You know that teachers always have favorites, even though they're not supposed to, right? And they also have students who they simply dislike? Yeah, I'm one of them."

"Wow, I wonder why." Yami stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly looked at Yugi from the corner of his eye who had also stopped and was glaring at him half-heartedly. "… Sorry."

"Maybe you're a little too sarcastic for a teacher," Yugi said quite coolly.

"Students love it when their teacher has a good sense of humor."

"I said sarcastic, not funny."

Snorting, Yami shook his head. "Okay, I deserved that. Sometimes my mouth acts faster than my brain and I end up hurting people's feelings," he said sincerely. They quickened their pace, seeing that they had already stopped twice and that the bell would ring in a couple of minutes.

"Speaking of mouths…"

Uh-oh. Yugi was about continue, but Yami quickly beat him to it. "Do _not _ask me that question again."

"Why not?" A very taunting look appeared in Yugi's eyes and his lips curled into a smirk.

Yami resisted the urge to roll his eyes and started walking even faster. Of course that didn't stop Yugi from keeping up with him, even with his slightly shorter legs. He didn't know what to do or say and since Yugi wasn't going to let this go very soon, he probably didn't have a choice but to answer that question.

They were near the school grounds and right after they went through the front doors, Yami pulled Yugi into the nearest restroom and closed the door behind him. With a small sigh, he folded his arms over his chest and looked over at Yugi who seemed overly smug.

"If I answer your question, will you let it go?"

"You have my word." Yugi raised his hands in mock-defense and continued to grin like an idiot.

Yami couldn't believe he was actually going to answer this question. He took a deep breath, hung his head and closed his eyes. Now he was sure he was losing it because he was going to tell a _seventeen-year-old _about his kissing skills. A very _appealing _seventeen-year-old.

"I've kissed a handful of people back in high school and have been called a great kisser. Now go." Yami pointed at the door, knowing that his nose was probably red _and_ knowing that he was going to hate himself for the rest of the day.

"Yes, sir," Yugi said in that same smooth voice he had used countless times before. He walked past Yami but not before he looked up at him, and Yami nearly caved because _holy shit _that look should be illegal. The amount of lust in Yugi's gorgeous eyes couldn't be real. A tingly sensation formed itself in his stomach— and he cleared his throat before it got out of hand.

"_Go_," he murmured curtly. Yugi snickered and left.

* * *

"Good morning," Mai greeted her students cheerfully and Yami strolled over to the back of the classroom where he sat down. He focused on his notes and the books he had for this class, making sure that his eyes were on his own desk only. "For those who didn't pass their test last week, I'm very sorry, but don't worry about it too much. Today we'll go over the test's subjects again to make sure no one will fall behind. The others who have passed the test can work ahead if they want. Tanaka-kun and I will be walking around in case you need any help so feel free to raise your hand whenever you're stuck."

Everyone pulled out their books and started working. Yami looked down at his notes to review them. Mai had told him it was very important to make a student feel comfortable and ask them questions instead of giving the answer right away. He had seen her kneel down in front of her students or pull out a chair so she could sit next to them. She usually pointed out some things in their books, gave them tips and joked around every now and then to make them feel less nervous.

Yami wrote some things down for his logbook and looked around, tapping his pen gently against the palm of his hand. It was pretty quiet, except for a few students who were whispering to each other and pointing at their books; probably asking if their neighbor knew the answer. Mai was quietly walking around and looked over her students' shoulders sometimes to make sure they were filling in the right answers.

When Yami's eyes fell on Yugi, he saw him staring at his notebook with a small frown. His hand was cupping his cheek while he twirled the pen in his other hand, his eyes scanning the page over and over again.

Mai was too busy with another student and Yami hung his head in defeat. _Great._

Giving himself a small push, Yami got up from his chair and knelt down next to him.

"Need any help?"

The younger one slowly looked up from his work and looked down at Yami, blinking. "Was it that obvious?"

"Yes."

"Fine." Yugi dropped his pen and shoved the book towards Yami, pointing at one of the exercises. "I have no idea what I'm doing anymore."

Scanning the page for a minute, Yami saw that Yugi was struggling with one of the test's subjects: the present continuous. He played Mai's words over in his head before he turned to Yugi with a small smile.

"Okay. Do you know how to use this tense?"

"Nope."

"Really?"

"It doesn't make any sense to me _at all. _When Miss Kujaku started explaining it a few weeks ago, I got completely lost and gave up," Yugi explained and he sighed quietly. "But if you feel like you can't help me, that's fine."

Yami tried to keep his poker face and probably failed because he ended up frowning. "I'm here, aren't I?" He got up to his feet, pulled out a free chair and sat down next to Yugi, placing his arms on the desk and smiling reassuringly at him. "We'll get there. Do you know the functions of the present continuous?"

"You use it when… something is going on _right now?"_

"Yeah, exactly," Yami grinned encouragingly and scooted a bit closer so he could point out things in the book. "That's one of them. Of course there's more, but since this exercise focuses on this function, we'll stick to this one. In order to form this tense you need two verbs. The present tense of "to be" _and _the present participle of the main verb. You with me so far?"

Yami was quite surprised to find Yugi listening to every word he was saying. Yugi looked at the book for a few seconds, then back at Yami and quietly nodded.

"Good. If we want to know which form of "to be" we need to use, you'll have to find the subject." Yami motioned for Yugi look at the book, which he did. His eyes roamed over the sentence until they stopped at the name of the person who was performing the action. It was an English name and it made Yugi grimace.

"There's no way I can pronounce that."

"Doesn't matter," Yami quickly brushed it off. He reached for Yugi's pencil and drew a small circle around the name. "So here we have the subject: third person singular. Right?"

He received another nod in response. "Which form of "to be" do you have to use for third person singular?"

"… _Is._"

"Yeah!" Yami grinned, glad that he was able to help Yugi after all. "Okay, so now we already have the first part. For the second part of the tense, we need the present participle of the main verb. In this case, the main verb is "to read". Do you know the present participle of that verb?"

"_Reading?"_

"And now you put those two verbs together and there's your answer," Yami concluded and handed Yugi the pencil.

Very slowly, Yugi wrote down the answer and Yami watched him, quite fascinated by Yugi's curly handwriting. After a few seconds, he had filled in the right answer and Yami smiled, gently patting him on the arm.

"Pretty doable, don't you think?"

"Yeah, when you're here to help me out," Yugi said lamely.

"Nah, you're smart enough to do it yourself. I merely gave you a push in the right direction. As long as you follow these small steps, you'll be fine. If you get stuck, just raise your hand and I'll come over to help," Yami said, getting up on his feet again and smiling down at him. "Okay?"

If only he had never said that.

For some reason, every time Yugi raised his hand, Mai appeared to be too busy to notice. Maybe Yugi was right about the fact that she disliked him and was therefore ignoring him on purpose. That, or it was pure coincidence. Whatever the reason, it was annoying the hell out of him.

Yami's left eye twitched when Yugi looked up and raised his hand with a bright smile. _Again. _

"Can you help me out, _Tanaka-san?" _

At this point, Yami was glaring daggers at him, but Yugi's smile merely widened in response. This was the tenth time in twenty minutes Yugi had called him over.

Biting back a groan, Yami walked over to Yugi's desk and leaned over him. "_Yes?" _he said with a forced smile.

"What?" Yugi replied innocently. "I told you I was bad at this."

"Yugi, I can't keep helping you. You gotta—"

"Hmm, you smell really good."

Internship was going to be the _death_ of him.

* * *

**Author's note:** Poor Yami. I'm having way too much fun here, omg.

One time, the students had to write a small essay about their weekend and I had this one kid who kept calling me over to check his writing. At one point, I sat in front of him and said,

"I can't keep checking everything you write down. You really need to do this yourself."

"But Miiiiisssss, I need to make sure everything is correct!"

I swear, that kid was having the time of his life. :')

Please leave a review on your way out~!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note:** Casually updating all my stories in one week again. Or at least, trying to. Because I'm a crappy updater.

Thanks for all the reviews!  
Exciting things are about to happen, yeeeees~.

* * *

The short walk to school had become a weekly thing and Yami was slowly getting to know Yugi better through their small-talk. He learned about his birthday, his hobbies, his favorite TV shows and movies, favorite dishes, and he also picked up these small things about his personality. If Yugi wasn't flirting, he was very easy to talk to, open-minded, funny and even a bit shy at times, which was quite endearing.

It was getting too cold to walk around without gloves and Yami was actually pretty grateful for that, seeing that their hands brushed together all the time while they were walking next to each other. He was still acting professional at times and had drawn a clear line. Yugi, however, loved to push his buttons and see how far he could go until Yami would stop him. Unfortunately, it was getting harder and harder to keep Yugi at bay because his feelings (and hormones) were secretly enjoying the flirtatious touches and comments. And that was bad. Very bad.

Yugi would _accidentally _trip so Yami would have to catch him, or Yami would have to help him in class _again, _or Yugi would simply wink and smile at him and it would cause Yami's stomach to do a couple of flips. He hadn't had these feelings for someone in a long time and maybe that was why he was experiencing "butterflies" for the very first time in his life. It was crazy and so very wrong, but also exciting as hell. But still wrong.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp poke in his ribs and he yelped loudly, nearly jumping out his skin. Yugi burst out laughing at the silly reaction and clutched his stomach with his bare hand.

"Your f-face," he choked in between laughter, making Yami's eyebrow twitch in annoyance. "Priceless!"

"I was lost in thoughts," Yami defended, his entire body glowing with embarrassment.

"Then do tell what you were thinking about 'cause you looked pretty happy," Yugi taunted and he inched closer, causing alarming bells to ring in Yami's head once again. "Was it something _bad?" _

_Yes_. "Was thinking about a greasy pizza, which is bad for you, so yes."

Of course Yugi didn't buy it for he merely raised an eyebrow and defiantly looked up at him through his black eyelashes. "Why don't I believe you? You're getting better at lying though, so kudos to you."

There was absolutely no way Yami could say that he was _enjoying _Yugi's presence and the thought of them getting together. All hope would be lost and even though he hated to admit it, he was doing a very poor job at keeping their relationship purely teacher/student. They were already sort of friends at this point, which meant he had already crossed the line.

Even Mai had commented on their interaction. "You two seem to be getting along just fine. Yugi has always been really quiet but ever since you're here, he's become open and laughs a lot more. I'll be sure to email your teacher about this because this is a great thing for a first year!"

It was anything _but. _Now that Yami was starting to see through the lascivious remarks, he could tell that Yugi was indeed an introvert and that the only reason he was opening up was because he was crushing on him.

Several people in his class had the same problem and their teacher merely said it was a phase and that they should blame it on the adolescents' hormones. But that still didn't help the fact that Yami was _also_ attracted to him.

Yugi tried to poke him again, but this time, Yami caught his wrist in an iron grip and glared down at him. Yugi's eyes sparkled with excitement and playfulness and Yami hated how innocent it looked. Technically Yugi was still a child after all and the thought made his stomach drop. Even though they were only one year apart, Yami was still falling for a _child. _

"Hold on…" Yugi mumbled and Yami's breath hitched at the sudden change of atmosphere. The younger one pushed himself up until he was standing on the tip of his toes and Yami was frozen on the spot. He could only focus on Yugi's slightly cracked lips, which were getting closer and closer to his own. His hand was still holding Yugi's wrist tightly and he squeezed it out of instinct.

Their faces were now so close that he could almost _taste _the chocolate cupcake Yugi had eaten a couple of minutes ago. His breath ghosted over his lips and he could feel his heart beating so fast that his entire body was shaking. His mind screamed at him to back away, but his body was dying to close the gap. Yugi's hand reached for his shoulder and gave it a playful squeeze, his fingers crawling up until they sneaked under his scarf to lightly tickle the back of his neck.

Now there was only_ one_ centimeter keeping them apart. Their eyes met and there it was again. Those violet orbs were filled with lust, making his knees weak and his head spin. So close, he was so close to losing it. Lust, with a hint of mischief twinkled in Yugi's eyes and then those eyes looked down at his own lips. His playful fingers had now wrapped themselves around his neck, sending shivers down his back.

Oh, how he wanted to lean in and kiss him. They were alone, it was still dark, no one would know and… No. He growled softly, but still found himself to be immobile. Yugi had somehow hypnotized him with his eyes and he loved and hated it at the same time. No one had ever made him so full of anticipation. Yugi had managed to do so within a few seconds without even breaking a sweat, much to his displeasure. Said person's hand lightly traveled down his spine, the warmth of his fingertips making his toes curl up. His nails gently scraped against his clammy skin and Yami let out a soft, strangled noise in response.

"Should I stop?" Yugi whispered teasingly against his quivering lips and Yami wanted to die on the spot.

"Fuck," he whispered back and he clenched his jaw. Closing his eyes for a good few seconds, he forced his body to obey him and he pulled back. The places where Yugi had touched him still tingled and he quickly brought his hand to his neck to scratch at the tingly spots.

"Tch, you're too stubborn," Yugi said and he gave him a small shove.

"You _cannot _do that," Yami hissed.

"Seems like you were enjoying every second if it, though."

"No."

"Really? 'Cause for a minute there I thought you wanted to kiss me, seeing you weren't trying to stop me and making those rather… hot noises."

Yami resisted to punch the wall and gritted his teeth. He had lost complete control and it pissed him off. Yugi was getting way too good at this. "Look, we can't do this. You're underage, you're hormonal, I'm trying to become a teacher and I… can't do that with you breathing down my neck."

He turned to look at Yugi who had folded his arms over his chest and was looking at him with a skeptical look. "It's not my fault you have no self-control."

"You were practically seducing me back there."

"Then I guess you're just as _hormonal_ as I am," Yugi grinned and Yami could not believe he had fallen for that trap. "How _inconvenient_."

Sadly, he was right. Absolutely right. Yami wanted nothing more than to pull Yugi closer and kiss him until their lips were bruised and numb. But he had to put an end to it so he could go back to focusing on his studies and teaching.

"It's not gonna work out between us. Let's draw a line here and keep our relationship formal, okay?"

He anxiously waited for a reply and he gripped the inside of his jacket, pressing his moist lips together. Yugi's grin had faltered and slowly faded into a small frown. He raised his eyebrows, urging Yugi to answer him.

"Fine."

* * *

It had been almost fifteen minutes and Yami still hadn't gotten over that almost-kiss experience with Yugi. The images kept flashing in front of his eyes, his stomach did all these weird flops, and at some point, he couldn't help but sigh at the satisfying feeling. He kept scolding himself for it and was glad when Mai plopped down next to him with a bright smile.

"You ready for your first mini lesson?"

Yami reached for his notes and lesson plan and shoved it towards her. "I guess."

"It's okay," Mai chuckled, pulling everything towards her so she could read it. "I remember being nervous, too. All you gotta keep in mind is that you need to give them _clear _instructions and that you shouldn't be too soft. Show them you're in charge and that they need to follow your rules."

"Right."

After reading his plan and additional notes, she patted his shoulder. "You'll be fine. Remember, I'll be there the whole time to keep an eye on them and if things get out of hand, I'll step in."

If he was going to be honest with himself, Yami was quite nervous, especially since Mai had given him Yugi's class. Though, according to her, that was her easiest group since they were the most mature and quiet. Unfortunately she was right, but Yami couldn't help but imagine Yugi sitting in the first row and having to look at him the whole time. It was going to be distracting the hell out of him.

All he had to do was explain how to write an introduction of a review, write some things on the board, walk around and help students if needed and then he was done. He could always keep his eyes on the board, or pretend Yugi wasn't there. No, he couldn't, because Mai wasn't going to do anything unless there was some kind of emergency. She was going to sit in the back to take notes and not do anything else.

Yeah, he was screwed.

The bell rang with a loud shriek and Yami shakily pushed himself out of the chair, following Mai to the classroom. She was holding a pile of books, along with a notebook with a pen attached to it, unmistakably meant for him. Some students were already waiting at the door, babbling and stepping aside to make room for them.

"Hey, Yami!" Jounouchi greeted happily. "What're we gonna do today?"

"You'll see," Yami said with a forced smile.

He jogged over to his spot in the back and dumped everything on the desk. Students walked in, greeting both him and Mai with a polite smile before they sat down. It had been a few weeks and Yami noticed they were slowly warming up to him, which gave him hope. But said hope disappeared when Yugi walked in and he ducked, pretending to be busy with his notes.

Class started and Mai did a few listening exercises in which the students had to listen to random conversations and answer questions about them. While Yami tried to block out the sound, he went through his plan for the last time: walk up to the front, write a couple of things on the board, explain the function of an introduction and how to write it, let them brainstorm and work, and then he was done. It would take about twenty minutes, but now that he thought about it, twenty minutes seemed like a _long _time.

Time went faster and faster and Yami could feel his heartbeat in his throat when Mai introduced the next subject. "As you know, we're going to watch a movie in about four weeks and I want you to write your own review about it."

That was his cue. Yami got up and walked towards the front of the class, not surprised by the curious murmurs. He clutched his notes and stood next to Mai with an awkward smile.

"Are you gonna teach?" someone called out, obviously excited. The entire class exploded with excited roars and Yami chuckled at the unexpected turn of events. "That's so cool!"

Mai shook her head in amusement. "All right, settle down. Yes, he's gonna teach you how to write an introduction. If you have any questions, ask him, not me, because as of now, I'm no longer the teacher."

After giving him a small pat on his shoulder, she brushed past him and went over to his desk. Everyone looked up at Yami, their curious eyes watching him as he slowly walked over to the board. He grabbed one of the crayons and reached up to pull the board down.

Small bursts of giggles made his body tense up and he turned around, confused. Anzu, a long with a few other girls were trying to stifle their giggles and he frowned, looking around, trying to find the source of their amusement. A few other people started muttering things under their breaths and Yami could feel his clammy hands shaking.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, he thought as he turned to Yugi, silently asking him what was going on. Yugi mouthed something at him, but he didn't understand. Then, Yugi shook his head and motioned for him to continue.

Sighing, Yami reached up so he could start writing on the board and ignored the giggles this time. After he was done writing, he started explaining everything and was surprised at the instant silence. The minutes passed as he walked around a bit, pointing things out in the book and writing some examples down on the board. With one last flick of his hand, he pointed at the clock.

"You have about five minutes to brainstorm about your subject and after that, I want you to start on your first draft of your introduction."

Yami released a breath when everyone started whispering about their favorite movies, books, TV shows, restaurants and everything else Yami had mentioned.

The first ten minutes were over, ten minutes to go. He clasped his hands behind his back and walked around for a bit, listening to the different opinions the students had and liking how serious they were taking this assignment. There was a small sparkle in his stomach as he saw that some students had even started writing things down already and looking at their books for references.

Jounouchi was talking to a very horrified Yugi so Yami quickly walked over to them. "Everything okay?"

"I'm trying to convince Yugi here that—"

"Please don't repeat those words," Yugi cut in, grimacing and covering his ears. "I don't wanna hear it."

Snorting, Yami sat down on one of the desks and placed his feet on the empty chair, facing them. "What's going on?"

Before Jounouchi could speak, Yugi beat him to it. "Jounouchi-kun loves horror movies and says I should write a review about one of his favorites in which people get torn apart and either die of blood loss or shock."

"Wow. Sounds awesome," Yami replied dully and both of them laughed softly. "You could write a review about that movie if you want, Yugi. Reviews aren't always positive; on the contrary, sometimes they're full of criticism and insults."

"No, don't you dare!" Jounouchi yelled when Yugi's eyes started glittering excitedly. "It's one of the best movies ever!"

"Everyone's entitled to their own opinion." Yami hopped off the table and placed his hands on Jounouchi's shoulders. "And please, lower your voice because I think they heard you all the way across the hall."

"… Yes, sir," Jounouchi mumbled and Yami chuckled, gently squeezing his shoulders before he made his way back to the front.

The next five minutes went by so very quickly that Yami could barely believe it. Mai got up and told him she had to go to the bathroom.

"There's only a few minutes left," Yami whispered a little too panicky to his liking. The first time Mai had left him alone was way too awkward and uncomfortable, but she shook her head with an apologizing smile.

"It _really _can't wait," she emphasized and Yami's eyes widened in response. "Homework's on the board. Just tell them they need to finish that and their introduction."

"Okay," he almost squeaked and watched her leave. He turned back to the students and took a deep breath. "All right, don't forget to write your homework down and finish your introductions."

The bell rang right after he said that and the students practically flew out of their seats to run over to the door. Yami sighed and let himself fall in Mai's chair, rubbing his forehead. Several students said their goodbyes and he waved at them, putting on a semi-forced smile. The door closed and Yami looked up, expecting to be alone, but he wasn't.

"Not bad for your first time," Yugi complimented with a sincere smile. "And thanks for the tip. I'm definitely on a roll here." He held up his introduction, his smile widening and making Yami snicker. "Jounouchi-kun's already ended our friendship twice, but it's worth it."

"You hurt the poor guy's feelings with your excessive criticism?" Yami inquired and watched as Yugi leaned against Mai's desk with his hip, handing over the piece of paper. Yami couldn't help but laugh at Yugi's writing, loving the way he basically described everything as "stupid" and "pointless". "You definitely have a future in this."

"Again with the sarcasm," Yugi teased and snatched his work out of the other's hands.

Yami leaned back and pressed his lips together. "Can I ask why some of the girls started laughing at me?"

He raised an eyebrow when Yugi looked away with a sly grin. "Um… You really wanna know?"

"Seriously, what did I do?"

Yugi started snickering and hid his mouth behind his hands, bending over while his shoulders shook with laughter. Yami playfully hit him with the tip of his shoe, urging him to tell. "The thing is, when you had to reach up to pull the board down, your shirt rode up."

Yami instinctively reached for his white shirt and tugged helplessly at the edges. "I-it did?"

"Yep, and well, I heard a lot of the girls saying they wanted to see your stomach because they thought you had a six-pack."

"… But I don't," Yami awkwardly admitted, feeling his nose turning red at the odd statement. "Why would they even think that?"

"Do I have to spell it out?" Yugi turned back to him with a small, playful frown. "Admit it, you're hot. Of course they're gonna fantasize about you."

The heat in his stomach was almost becoming unbearable and Yami glanced over at the door, hoping that Mai would come barging in any second. He looked back at Yugi who was grinning down at him, obviously enjoying their conversation. If he didn't act now, he would probably end up doing something he was going to regret, so Yami rose to his feet, and gave Yugi a gentle push towards the door.

"You'd better go. Mai's gonna get back and then we're gonna start reflecting, which is very boring."

"I'm sure it is," Yugi replied sarcastically and laughed when Yami gave him another push.

"Fine, lemme put it this way. It's none of your business," Yami jeered, but halted when Yugi grabbed his arm. They were standing in front of the door and Yami stiffened when he heard the familiar clicking of Mai's heels. She was going to walk in on them like this and he _really _didn't want that.

"One more thing." Yugi was smirking up at him and Yami glared at him while the clicking was getting louder and louder. "You have a very, _very _lovely happy trail."

The door opened and Yugi pulled back with an innocent smile. "I'll definitely look into it. Thanks for the advice." He looked up at Mai and waved at her. "See you next week, Miss."

He left, but not before he gave Yami a small wink, making his knees buckle. Mai closed the door behind her and beamed at him.

"Helping students after class? And Yugi, of all people? You're doing absolutely great!"

"Uhu…" Yami muttered and followed her to her desk to analyze.

Fuck internship. Fuck it all.

* * *

**Author's note: **My first time was quite bad. xD I was so nervous that my handwriting was messy and I kept stumbling over my own words and ugh. I altered it slightly, because I didn't want Yami to humiliate himself like I did. Ahem.

The shirt thing actually happened! Not to me, fortunately, but to the other guy whom I was assigned with. Basically all the girls are crushing on him and keep asking _me _if he has a six-pack or if we're dating. One time, he was standing next to the door and raised his arms and his shirt rode up. I swear, EVERY GIRL STARTED GIGGLING. He didn't get it and when I told him afterwards, he was so proud of himself.

"Well, I do work out~."  
"They're _fourteen_."  
"… Right."

Ah, hormones. Gotta love 'em.  
Please review~!


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: **So sorry for the lack of updates!  
Excuses: Trying to get the hang of driving, joining an amv-contest in Finland (which was flippin' awesome omg), life in general (meaning college and family drama) and sliiiiiight writer's block. I also have this other plot bunny that's been bugging me and I should actually write it but focus on finishing my other stories first and it's really annoying and UGH.

Also, my mom walked in on me while I was reading Junjou Romantica. Wooooooops.  
ENJOY THE NEW CHAPTURRR.

* * *

Since Yugi had almost tried to kiss him, Yami had decided to take an earlier train from now on, which meant he had to get up even earlier, which was just… peachy. It had worked though; he would no longer meet Yugi on his way to school and was very grateful for that. And during class, he was able to control himself as long as they didn't get too close.

Too bad Yugi obviously didn't care about his new tactics and was even more flirtatious than ever. Very often, Yami would catch the other staring at him or raising his hand so he would be forced to come over to his table to help him. Instead of sitting next to him like the first time, Yami had decided to sit on his knees in front of him to keep enough distance, but Yugi had already come up something to ruin his plans.

One time, Yami had been explaining the difference between adverbs and adjectives when he felt Yugi's ankle gently caressing the side of his leg. It had caused him to let out an awkward sound and fall onto his ass. The entire class had burst out laughing, even Mai who had tried to hide it behind her hand, whereas Yami felt beyond embarrassed and pissed off. _And _annoyed at himself because _damn _he had liked it.

After that, he had resorted to grabbing a chair again and make sure they were at least an arm-length away from each other, which worked. Still, he couldn't help but feel hot whenever they sat next to each other, or when Yugi would look over at him and smile sincerely. Therefore, Yami had decided it was better to avoid eye contact.

Which had worked out perfectly so far until Yami entered the teacher's lounge that day and Mai had given him that look.

"You're doing great, Yami, you really are. There's just one problem," she said and took a sip of her coffee. Yami sat down in front of her and placed his bag on his lap, anxiously waiting for her to continue. "It's about Yugi. Are you two still doing okay?"

"Hm?" Yami feigned confusion and hoped it would work. "Yeah, we're cool. Why?"

"Oh, good 'cause I was worried," Mai sighed in relief and smiled. "Because I wanted to ask you something. I know it's very unprofessional and everything, but I can't help it. He and I don't seem to get along very well and the fact that he's failing my class on top of that is bad news. He always declines when I offer to help so I came up with a plan. You don't have to do it, but you _will_ get extra credit."

Fortunately, she had fallen for it, but now Yami wasn't so sure if it had been a good idea to lie. He didn't like where this was going and casually pretended to be looking for something in his bag to hide his face from view.

Mai kept talking nonetheless. "Would you like to become his tutor?"

The bag fell out of his lap, sending its contents sprawling across the floor. Yami immediately bent down to pick everything up again while he tried to come up with a suitable answer. Tutoring Yugi was a very bad idea. _Very _bad idea. It would mean they'd have to sit next to each other in a room, _alone, _for at least _an hour_. His stomach did a few flips and little sparks came to live in his chest at the thought.

Bad. _Bad. _

"Um." Yami sat up straight and ran a hand through his hair to buy some more time. The blood had rushed to his face and his heart was beating quite fast. "I dunno."

Wrong answer. Mai raised a questioning eyebrow and folded her arms over her chest. "You said everything was okay between you two. This will be part of your job in a few years so it's best to start practicing early. Plus, he always seems to understand things better after you explain it to him. I fail to see the problem here."

Even though it was right in front her, Yami thought impudently.

"I can arrange it before class, during one of our breaks, or after school," Mai continued and pulled out a notebook. "I've made a list of all his weaknesses and if you go over these with him for a couple of weeks, he'll be able to catch up just fine. An hour or two (Yami winced) is more than enough. I'll make sure there will be an empty classroom available. I can even check up on you every once in a while and help out if you want. Like I said, I'll give you extra credit, you'll gain more experience, you'll have something interesting for your portfolio and you'll probably be ahead of your classmates."

Apparently Mai had put a _lot _of thought into this. Yami kept looking at her and felt a twinge of guilt. She was determined to help Yugi out and saw this as her only option of doing so. And he knew he would regret it if he agreed to do it.

"I'll do it."

* * *

The day had gone by so quickly that Yami could barely believe he was already on his way to the classroom where he was supposed to be meeting Yugi. All day he had sat in the back of the classrooms and observed and worked out ways to help Yugi improve his English. Mai had given him the list and he was going over it one more time while nibbling absently on the white straw of his juice box.

His feet came to a lazy stop as he stood in front of the door of said classroom and got out the keys Mai had given him to open the door— Only to find it unlocked already. Pushing the door open with the tip of his finger with his lips still half wrapped around the straw, Yami poked his head around the corner and saw Yugi on one of the desks, slowly swinging his legs back and forth.

Yami, not really sure how to react, simply stood there, watching him. Apparently Yugi hadn't noticed him coming in yet and was looking out the window with absent eyes. A few seconds passed, maybe even a whole minute, until Yami noticed he had been checking Yugi out. After all, he had been staring at wooden desks and his own handwriting all day, his eyes obviously needed a break.

And Yugi was definitely a sight for sore eyes.

His jacket hung over the chair behind the desk so the only thing covering him up was the white button up shirt,_ which had no sleeves_. Well, it did have sleeves but Yugi had rolled them up and Yami impudently suspected him of doing so to look more appealing. And _damn him _it was working. Especially because he was gripping the edges of the desk and Yami could instantly see that his arms were slightly toned, and he knew that if Yugi didn't put on that jacket, he would get distracted.

_Clank. _

Yami shut his eyes and looked down at the keys he had just dropped. He had been watching so intently that the grip on the keys had gone limp. Not only that, but to make it worse, the rest of his notes joined in as well and hit the floor, causing them to fly all over the place. And as icing on the cake, he had squished the juice box between his arm and chest as a reflex, and he cursed himself for it because its content was now sprayed all over his face and shirt.

"… I hate everything," he mumbled when he heard Yugi's rich laughter echoing through the entire classroom. Grimacing as he felt the juice dripping down his chest, Yami ran the back of his hand across his face with a small groan. "Could you get me some paper towels? Ugh, it's sticky."

"Way to make an entrance." Yugi hopped off the table and practically skipped past him to go to the nearest restroom.

With a quiet sigh, Yami opened up his bag with the hopes of finding some sort of handkerchief or a spare shirt. He probably didn't have one and would have to live with the fact he was going to smell like orange juice for the rest of the afternoon. So, he dried his hands on his shirt and started piling everything up.

Yugi returned a minute or two later and knelt down next to him. A few damp paper towels were shoved into Yami's face. "Here. What happened?"

"Thanks and um," Yami grabbed some and started wiping the remaining juice off his face and neck. "I dunno. Wasn't paying attention to where I was going and I knew I should've just put everything in my bag but I didn't want to be late, so I decided to carry everything while drinking 'cause I got really thirsty and I'll remember to never do it again to avoid any further future embarrassment."

He got up and threw the juice box and dirty paper towel in the trashcan and heard Yugi following him. "Would it make you feel better if I told you that this actually made my day?"

"Not really, no."

"Don't you care about my happiness?"

Yami crumbled up one of the paper towels and threw it at him, making Yugi chuckle. "Help me clean this up and we'll get to work."

"Hm. You're serious about this whole tutoring thing," Yugi said with a small frown, but bent down to help him nonetheless. "I thought this was _the _opportunity to make out without anyone finding us, but I guess we can always treat ourselves after a couple of hours of hard work."

That comment that he totally should have expected made him drop a pile of notes again. Yami gave him a look while he awkwardly shoved everything back into a messy pile again. "Excuse you?"

"What?" Yugi said innocently, as if that was a perfectly normal assumption. "You're not gonna tell me that thought didn't occur to you at least once."

Granted, it was all he could think about. And he hated himself for it. Of course he couldn't tell Yugi the truth, so he put on his poker face and rose to his feet again.

"Nope. I'm here for the extra credit and because Mai said you're failing. Let's get started."

Even though Yugi had sulked in the beginning, Yami found himself being amazed at his determination. He had decided to work on reading first and had Yugi reading the text out loud to also help him with his pronunciation. They laughed at some of hilarious mistakes Yugi made and Yugi gladly admitted that he was going to need lots of help, which Yami didn't mind.

And since Yugi seemed to take this seriously, Yami was able to sit next to him now. Sometimes their elbows would brush against his each other for a moment, or Yami would have to lean forward to point at something in the book and Yugi would give him that one smile that made his heart flutter. Sitting like this was doable, hell, it was fun. Yami already knew Yugi was fun to be with and was not afraid to make mistakes if he was truly serious.

Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

"Okay, let's take a break," Yami spoke up after Yugi had finished reading a new sentence. He threw his arms up and stretched them above his head with a small groan.

"What about un… unfortl… unfolmlumly."

Yami snorted and turned to him. "Unfolmlumly? You mean _unfortunately_?"

"Yeah, whatever. What is that word even doing?" Yugi gave his book a small shove and leaned back in his chair as well. "Okay, be completely honest. Am I getting better yet?"

"Definitely," Yami replied truthfully. "Your pronunciation wasn't horrible to begin with. You just needed some tips here and there. I wanted to start out easy because I know your grammar is definitely one of your weakest points."

"Lucky me," Yugi mumbled and absently played with the edges of his workbook. "Yami?"

"Yeah?" Yami reached for his bag and pulled out the list Mai had given him again. On the back, he had written a schedule and ticked off "Reading" for today. He turned back to Yugi with a small smile, but yelped when he saw that Yugi had come way too close.

"What're you—"

Too late. Yugi was kissing him. On the lips. Uh-oh. Abort, _ABORT!_

Yami grabbed Yugi's shoulders and pushed him away, face bright red. "We _can't._"

"Why not?"

Sighing, Yami bent over and used his forearms as a pillow to lie on the desk. Of course he should have known this was coming and he _hated _how he had enjoyed that sweet, innocent kiss. "Stop sulking and get over it that it's not gonna work out between us."

"And the reason is…?"

"I'm an adult and you're not," Yami said, looking up again, trying his hardest to keep his poker face.

"That's it? It's not like we're gonna bang the minute we get together," Yugi countered. "If you were twenty-six, then it'd be different. But we're _one _year apart, we're both still teenagers, we're both attracted to each other and—"

"Yugi, it's not gonna happen. _Drop it._"

A silence fell over them. Yugi's face fell and Yami felt the guilt welling up in his chest. Even though he had told the truth, it still hurt. Yugi was right about the part about them being attracted to each other. And there was only one year keeping them apart and… _No. _More bad thoughts entering his mind. College was more important than some silly relationship that wouldn't work out in the first place.

His eyes fell on Yugi's lips and he quickly pressed his own together. The other's were parted so Yami could see his two front teeth, which looked so very tempting that it was almost impossible tear his gaze away. Faded freckles surrounded the small button nose and Yami wanted nothing more than to run his fingers over them and give him an eskimo kiss afterwards. Yami unconsciously leaned closer until their noses almost touched and he quickly pulled back before Yugi noticed.

Violet eyes were still focused on the floor and, as if sensing his thoughts, Yugi looked up and blinked. "What?"

"What?"

"Were you trying to kiss me?"

"Jeez, stop flattering yourself."

Yugi looked up at him through his dark eyelashes and grinned. "You reek of orange juice, remember? I smelled you coming closer."

"Yeah, well— Shit." Yami had raised his finger to defend himself, but upon realizing it was pointless to argue, he dropped his hand and hung his head in defeat. "I can't help the fact I spilled orange juice all over my shirt. Wait, is it that bad?"

Shaking his head in amusement, Yugi leaned back in his chair and placed his cheek in his hand. "Are you sure you're an adult? You're such a dork."

"You'd feel the same if you'd spilled juice all over yourself," Yami argued stubbornly, twirling a pen around in his hand to distract himself because he could feel the heat rising to his face. It was embarrassing enough that there was an orange stain on his shirt and Yugi reminding him of that was something he really didn't need.

"I guess it would be different, seeing that I'm not an adult." A satisfied smirk appeared on Yugi's face and Yami narrowed his eyes. "I'm a _child. _You're not."

"Shut up."

"Well, it's true, isn't it?" Yugi spoke up seriously and raised an eyebrow. "You just said it yourself. We come from two _completely_ different worlds because there's one year separating us. You're an adult, I'm a child, that's it."

"Yugi, you seriously need to—"

"Unless you disagree."

"This is about a juice stain, not about relationships!"

"You're getting defensive because you know your arguments are invalid," Yugi calmly said and Yami knew he had fallen right into that trap. "Seriously, our age difference is practically nonexistent. We won't have sex if that's your main concern. Even though it'd be perfectly fine if you're in a romantic relationship with me and have my full consent, which would obviously be the case."

There were definitely other reasons why they couldn't be together, but the overwhelming desire to kiss Yugi was taking over his mind. Yugi was still looking at him rather skeptically, his eyes sparkling curiously and Yami felt himself melting under the other's gaze. They were so close, way too close, and the only thing Yami could do was give up on the internal battle he had been having with himself over the past two months.

"… Fuck it," he breathed and placed his lips on Yugi's.

Maybe internship wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

**Author's note: **So, did some of you fellow Europeans watch Eurovision last month. I know I'm so late with this, but, DAMN. So many ballads this year. I'm so addicted to all dem songs, it's not even real.

Uhh, RIGHT. THEY KISSED. _TWICE._ And don't worry, things will be explained in da next chapter but for now… enjoy le Puzzleshipping~.

Please don't forget to leave a review on your way out. x3


End file.
